Though I’m not one to throw this out randomly, I feel it’s an important anecdote to my story of that evening and the many harvests to come - I come from a very rich family. My mother inherited my grandfather’s coffee farm back when I was still in diapers. This farm would have been a blessing if we hadn’t already owned a complete tea isle in the Eastern Sea. The Diana name, ten generations so far, was imprinted on 90% of all Legacy’s tea and now about 40% of Legacy’s coffee. Yes, we were very rich.
I only bring this up to explain why I had so much time on my hands. My father had a hobby before he died that he called Star Searching. Most people would argue that it’s no different than modern astronomy, but I beg to differ. Most astronomers don’t use military spy dishes and aim them at the heavens. Most astronomers only look for lights – the light of the planets or the light from the stars. My father listened and best of all, my father was the one who discovered alien life.
It happened nearly sixty harvests ago when my father was only twelve harvests old. He had stolen a complete spy dish setup from the Armory where Grandpop worked. As an avid reader of science-fiction books, he took the spy dish and started aiming it at the planets – namely at the planet Ronna.
He found nothing extraordinary, but didn’t give up on his searching. Also, to add to his cause, he stole a Spy-Messager the next time he accompanied his dad to the Armory. With a little altering of the Messager and a lot of ingenuity, he aimed that at the sky overhead, transmitting the same message over and over again: “Here we are – is anyone out there?”
After nearly two harvests of searching, he picked up some sounds coming from the star we call Caliper. The first track that he recorded to show his dad was this: “I love the way… [static]… let’s get… I love… and I love you… [static]…” This made the news sheet for three whole six-lunes. My dad continued to record other things that were coming from Caliper, but most things turned out too choppy to make any sense. But one thing was made clear to all of Legacy – there’s life out there and it never stops talking or singing.
Many harvests have passed since then and the noise never stops coming. My father may have passed away twelve harvests ago, but the listening and messaging are still being carried on through me and my sister Jean VII. My name is Diana X and this is my story of the night that our world changed forever.
. . .
“I have a shipload of coffee leaving for Blaze tomorrow morning,” my mother said as I shuffled through the kitchen in my cotton robe and slippers, “Do you have any correspondence to send with it. I won’t have another ship headed that way for about five more 6-lunes.”
She’s all business all the time. She doesn’t offer me a “good morning” though in truth it’s really only a short span before nightfall, but she knows it’s morning for me all the same. I take my favorite crock from the cupboard and pour myself some of the remaining tea from the kettle.
“No, I’ve stopped writing letters to those savages over there. They don’t take any of the sciences seriously,” I grumbled, taking a seat at the table next to her, “The only thing their Academy wants to talk about is my ‘conversations’ with the Caliperians. As if I could talk to people in another star system.”
“But I thought you planned on going to college over there next harvest,” she said.
“You sound so anxious to get rid of me, Mother,” I replied, shooting her a confused glance.
“If you recall, Diana, I’m the one who insisted that you go to one of the many universities here in Green. And actually, I’m glad to hear you’ve accepted Blaze for what it is.”
“Yet you’ll gladly accept their coal, gold, and silver,” I replied.
I could see her looking at me out of the corner of my vision, but I refused to acknowledge this. I knew I was pushing all her buttons but I couldn’t tell you why. I think I was just feeling a bit grouchy from a lack of sleep.
“You seem to enjoy the benefits of our business just as much as I do,” she replied, touching the sleeve of my robe, “How much did this cost again?”
I stood up and dumped the rest of my tea into the basin. I was in no mood to finish the fight that I had started in the first place, so I rushed to my room and changed clothes. I grabbed the looking glass off my vanity and judged the woman staring back at me. The lines under my eyes were looking every bit of thirty harvests which would be fine if I was thirty harvests old. I had thirteen more to go before I reached the age of the woman in the looking glass. Her blonde hair was looking twisted and rough at the edges. Surely this wasn’t a 17-harvest woman.
I took a brush to my hair, progressively working out the tangles. After a few minutes, I gave up and settled on tying my hair in a ribbon and forgoing face powder entirely. I would be seeing no one for the remainder of the evening, so I could be as ugly as I wanted. I put on my shoes and then raced out of the house as quickly as I could.
I heard the back door creak open behind me, but I refused to look back. Most likely Mother had more to say to me before I headed to the studio located a mere 40 paces behind the house. She never called out, thankfully. The only break in the silence was the sweet chirps of the nightfrog and the whistles of the bluebat.
As I neared the one-room studio, I looked up at Caliper Tower, its cagey metal structure jutting upward from the building toward the stars above. Caliper Tower was our official name for the full-size “message sender” that my father built. It mainly consisted of a metal tower, the height of ten people, with four metal arms jutting out the length of a person in all four directions. My father wove copper wire between the arms, hundreds of strands, creating something of a water-strainer dish aimed at the stars. I checked it in passing every night to make sure the uglihawks didn’t try to nest in it again. I’ve had to shoo them away three times just since the last Alpha eclipse.
I was happy to see it was free of any twigs, so I moved around to the other side of the studio. I grabbed my bristle broom from where I’d left it by the door and headed to my listening dish. This metal dish was nearly as wide as the full length of the studio, much larger than the “strainer dish” located far above my head. This one rested about waist high on a custom-made tilt-table just 10 paces from the studio.
I dropped the broom into the dish, resting the bristles on the edge of a winterfern branch that managed to find its way into the dish. Tugging on the broom, I dragged the branch out of the dish and tossed it toward the woods.
To my shock, I suddenly heard thunder rumbling in the distance. The skies had been clear for two luna and were still clear a moment ago when I checked the tower. I glanced toward the ocean in time to see something unusual flying rapidly toward me. My first thought was that it was some sort of giant blackbird, but the thing lacked wings. It couldn’t have been any more than the passage of three heartbeats before I noticed that it was an object – perhaps a flying metal ocean vessel. I screamed.
“Mom!”
I knew she could hear me if she was still in the kitchen of since the windows were open. The flying vessel actually slowed down as it neared our home, then finally stopped directly over our backyard. I was about to scream again, but from where I stood, I could already see my mother and my sister on the back porch staring upward at the impossibility above us. There was no way that a metal object could fly, let alone hover like a floating ceiling above the backyard.
I brandished my broom like a weapon as I slowly approached the floating savages of Blaze. I had already made the assumption based on the direction from which this thing had come, that this was a creation of the people from Blaze.
“You welcomed us to Hydrus and we are honored. We respectfully request permission to land. Please transmit your reply,” a female voice blared from the heavens.
I imagine in that moment that my brain literally locked up for the passage of about ten heartbeats as my mind attempted to decipher too many things at once. My first thought was: Hydrus – what’s that? My second thought immediately followed: what does that ‘restactally’ wor
d mean? My third thought was: Transmit – does that mean shout? My fourth thought argued all these questions at the same time: Hydrus must be a person or a city we never heard of, recuptablably must just be a way to describe requesting permission, and transmit cannot mean shout because I couldn’t see any windows above me for someone to hear me.
I stared at the thing, wishing someone else would tell me what to do, but I finally realized that the solution to all this would probably have to come from me. If I wasn’t going to shout my answer to them, the only other method at my disposal was my “message sender.” That thought suddenly gave me a fearful pause. I even recalled muttering those words.
“Message sender.”
What if these people weren’t from Blaze? I dropped the broom and rushed into my studio, quickly shoving the lever down to stop the recorded message. I then grabbed the recorder’s ear and lifted the lever that would feed some power to it.
“Yes, you can land if you promise to do no damage here,” I spoke into the ear.
I waited a moment and spoke it again just to make sure they could hear and understand. I paused for a moment and was about to speak it again when suddenly a reply blared from the sky.
“We are friends and as you can tell by our shared language, we are also family. We promise no damage.”
I turned the ear off then proceeded to turn off all my other equipment in the office. I glanced up at my calendar in that moment and saw the slashes through the first six days. Today… tonight was 7PS 986.
August 10, 2352
The USSC finally published something that they had in the works for more than three years. They were planning another trip to Hydrus and this time, they were not relying on any experimental “Jump Drive” nor were they sending just a Colonial Establishment Cruiser. The Hydrus Signals have never stopped, implying that there was definitely a world around Beta Hydri with people who appeared to be as curious about their neighbors as the people of Earth.
Tomorrow, a fully crewed Colonial Supplementary Cruiser would be headed toward Hydrus at 95% light speed. It would be a trip that would take 25 Earth years, but would only take about eight years for those aboard the ship. Einstein’s Relativity was a good friend of the space-faring community because it promised a nice warp of time’s flow for those involved.
Tomorrow, over twenty-six hundred people would be heading to Hydrus. Tomorrow, the people of Earth would gain their faith back in the efforts of the USSC. Tomorrow, the world would have something to put their hope in once again, but this time, there would be no chance of failure.
3
Braxton
Blaze Continent
As I look back on that morning, I’m forced to believe it was more the fear of my father’s wrath than any amount of curiosity I had about the iron dragon. It took a little convincing on my part to get Kiernan to come along.
“I’m supposed to be working with my dad at the Metal-Master’s site today,” I said, running along the riverbank toward the bridge, “If those dragons from Ronna take my dad, I’d never forgive myself.”
“So, you want the Ronnans to take both of you instead?” Kiernan asked, still clutching his fishing pole as he followed closely behind, “Look at that behemoth just floating there like a kite in the wind.”
We could still see the top of the iron dragon peeking out above the treetops across the river. We finally reached the walking bridge and started quickly across the river.
“I just can’t have him facing that alone,” I replied, knowing full well that I had nothing to offer in any kind of battle.
“Well, if they start attacking, I’m running and I’m not waiting for anyone. Not for you and not for your dad,” he said.
We cleared the river and located the gravel path that I usually followed through the woods every morning. I offered no more explanation for my actions as we followed the twisting path through the woods. When we finally reached the clearing, I noticed the hovering giant was actually lowering itself to the ground beside one of the Metal-Master’s giant cages. My father and three of his helpers were standing dangerously close to the beast, seemingly pleased with its presence in their neighborhood.
“And you work everyday with these idiots?” Kiernan asked, probably reading my own thoughts, “No offense about your dad. I just mean…”
He didn’t finish and I didn’t have anything to add to his spoken thoughts. The ground rumbled only slightly as the beast finally rested firmly on the ground. My father and his associates took a couple strides back, though still too close for my comfort. I didn’t like the fact that my father was smiling like a goofball despite the fact that he was standing next to a Ronnan monster.
“Get back, boys,” a deep baritone growled from behind us.
Kiernan and I both noticed in that moment that The Guard had somehow snuck in behind us. There were three men bearing RD-10s and one guy lugging a full size RB Rocket Shaft on his shoulder. I couldn’t determine if that made me feel more comfortable or just a bit more nervous.
Just from what I could see of the metal monster before me, I was fairly certain the Rocket Dart rifles wouldn’t do much of anything. RD-10s were only good against fleshy beings such as men or animals. The RB however was a dual shot shoulder-mounted rocket launcher that fired an explosive projectile as big as my arm. I’ve never seen anything survive a hit from an RB Rocket Shaft.
“That’s my dad out there,” I whispered to the man who appeared to be the leader of the unit, “I’m not going anywhere unless he leaves with me.”
“What makes you think these aliens are letting anyone leave?” he replied, “Now fall in behind before I drag you back here.”
I glanced at Kiernan who was already obeying the soldiers. I didn’t move however because they didn’t scare me one bit. They prided themselves on never shooting the unarmed. I turned to my dad, then sprinted toward him before the Guard had a chance to stop me.
“Dad, get away from the dragon!” I shouted, drawing the attention of my father and his associates, “Come on!”
My father just smiled like an idiot and waved me over to him. I was quickly running out of options. My only other option was to return to the Guard in the woods behind me, so I continued toward him.
“Braxton, do you recognize the metal?” he asked, fanning his hand across the length of the dragon.
I noticed it was similar to the Metal-Master’s material, but that really didn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things. I’ve come to the conclusion long ago that we’re just a country who is far behind the times in our metallurgy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people of Green have already perfected these coveted metals of the Metal-Masters.
“Looks a little like the Metal-Master’s iron,” I replied with a shrug, “Doesn’t matter though, Dad. Let’s just get-”
“Look,” my dad said, handing me a large sheet of ceramoid.
I reluctantly accepted the sheet from him, wondering what archaeological finds could be more important than a Ronnan dragon. I examined the sheet casually, then turning the rectangular sheet on its side, my jaw immediately dropped. Embossed on the sheet of beige ceramoid was a perfect diagram of the iron dragon resting on the ground before us. This ceramoid imprint appeared to be a diagram of its internal structure, showing two levels with probably twenty or thirty seats.
“We uncovered this here?” I asked, my heart pounding audibly in my own ears as I anticipated his answer.
“I found this many lunes ago when I was digging up yonder,” he said, nodding with his goofy smile, “Yeah, I found it here and I think we are about to meet the Metal-Masters.”
I just stared at the amazing piece of ceramoid, unsure of all the beliefs I held so dear. Questions arose in my mind from the simplest of ones, such as “Who am I really” to the more complex such as “Who am I compared to the millions of creatures who must be living on the millions of planets in the universe?”
“Do you think they’ll share?” I asked, barely more than a whisper, “Their secrets
of metallurgy, I mean.”
“I was hoping they’d share their secrets of flight,” he replied, patting my shoulder, “I mean, could you imagine what that would do to our trade with Green? We could cross the Eastern Sea in a half-lune instead of the four-lune it takes today.”
A door very similar in size to my own bedroom door suddenly slid open midway down the length of the metal monster. A thick platform moved slowly outward in front of the doorway about the length of two people. Then, even before I had a chance to question the purpose of the platform, it broke into hand-length sections and dropped to create a perfect stairway.
“Maybe they will share a little of that too,” I muttered.
“That was unreal. I almost want them to pull it back and do it again,” one of Dad’s associates said.
A partially bald man stepped into the doorway, looking really no different than any of us. I had almost expected to see a blue-skinned monster with four arms and six legs. I looked to my father and realized that I wasn’t the only one taken aback by the appearance of this Ronnan.
“Thank you for your message of invitation. We come to you in peace from a planet we call Earth,” the alien said, raising his hands to the sky in an odd gesture.
Planet, Earth, and thank you were all the words I fully comprehended from the speedy blurb he’d spoken to us. His speech was very fast and besides there were a couple words I’d never heard of, but I can honestly say that I caught the general essence of his greeting. It was a greeting of friendship from some planet he called Earth – perhaps the same planet we called Ronna.
“Hello and welcome,” my father said, stepping bravely forward, “Welcome to Legacy.”
The bald man progressed down the stairway, followed by two people who looked very similar to him in appearance. The third man carried a black object that looked to be a longer version of the RD-10s that our own Guard carried. I had almost a second to process the image of that sleek-looking weapon before a flaming rocket blew past my shoulder from behind and into the doorway of the Earth vessel. It exploded inside the metal behemoth, blasting a yellow-orange fireball from the doorway and launching the three Earthians onto the grass outside the vessel.
The Mystic Saga Omnibus (Books 1 - 5) Page 10